I'm happy with it Don. Thanks for the details.

Rob Kirkham

Quoting Rob Kirkham <rdkirkham@shaw.ca>:

Stafford, thanks for your input on these cars again. My interest is
piqued
by the following comments in your e-mail:

(per Don Valentine) The style of roof has yet to be determined.

If I get my way these will be the as-delivered wood-sheathed roofs.

That said, I am now aware some cars were rebuilt with CNR's favorite
Hutchins roofs. That is, Al Welch has been working on me on the
existence/frequency of this feature and has provided a photo of one
car and mentioned yet another to me. While I'm not yet convinced this
was a very common retrofit as my ca 1984/85 research said "there were
none", this is now a live issue. These days I have way more photos
to trudge through to revisit the question properly. Thus this won't
be quick.

This raises a some questions - partly model - partly prototype.

When you say you want "wood-sheathed roofs", do you mean metal-clad
wood-sheathed roofs, or just the bare boards? - (I'm struggling to find
the
right terms here, so bear with me).

As I understand the CPR cars from looking at photos (not that many, I
grant
you) by the mid thirties, I'd estimate that at least 75% of cars I've
observed had metal sheathed roofs. (Of course, your e-mail refers to
the
CNR cars, which I don't know much about - they may be different). I'm
not
knowledgeable enough to say if these metal sheathed roofs were a
proprietary
roof or a company shops effort - so do not know if it was Hutchins, or
something else. (And most photos in my collection aren't clear enough
to
judge in any event.)

When I've purchased Westerfield and Kaslo versions of the car, I've
tended
to buy mostly the metal clad roof cars. I thought that a good balance
for
late 30's to late 40's. But again, the CNR cars could be different.

Or maybe your point is that wood roofs are easier to modify to metal,
than
from metal back to wood?

Or maybe the Life Like Canada cars are metal roofs and you want the
option
of having someone else do the wood?

I hope I haven't lost you with this meandering question. But I'd like
to
get an understanding, first, of the roof options available on the
prototype
for both the CNR and CPR cars, and also some understanding of why your
research leans you to favor wood sheathed. (Knowing that you model a
later
period than do I).

Let's try to clear a couple of things up here to assist Rod and others,
too. The car for which the roof type has not been settled on yet is the
second style of CNR car we plan, the CPR fleet being more homogeneous than
that of the CNR in post war years.

The fact that boards show on the outside of the roof does not necessarily
mean that the car does not have a metal roof. This is due to the fact that
some early metal roofs had wood sheathing ON TOP of the metal, strange as
all that sounds. The CNR and CPR each used outside metal roofs from a
different suppliers, primarily Hutchins for the CNR and primarily Chicago
(who sold the Murphy style roof) for the CPR. The INSIDE metal roofs used
by the two may well have been the same. Since they were hidden by the board
sheathing it doesn't make any difference as the look of the board sheathing
seems to be quite standard and doesn't seem to have been effected by the
use of an INSIDE metal roof underneath some of them.

This being said, my strong inclination has been to use a wood sheathed
roof for the second style of CNR cars. Such a roof could be utilized for
both straight wood sheathed roofs or wood sheathed roofs with an INSIDE
metal roof. It was decided early on with this project to mold the cars
having the floor included with the sides and ends, rather than the roof, for
the reason that it provided greater flexibility with the roof. We could offer
all cars with a choice of several roofs.....and earn the wrath of every hobby
dealer in North America at least. It is better, however, to offer each style
of car with only one roof but make roofs available separately so that modelers
can change roofs if they wish to do so. That is what will be done and that is
why I've been leaning so heavily toward the wood sheathed roof for the second
style of CNR car. Then, with three different roofs available separately, if
ever all modelers are happy with something, everyone should be happy.

So, does that make everbody happy early on a Sunday morning?

Take care, Don Valentine